(Closed) Fell in love, then the house went under contract??

I went and toured a house today (without my SO, who was working) and it is THE HOUSE. I love it, and I know he’ll love it too. I came home to find that it is supposedly under contract already! As of yesterday 🙁 He’s going to look at it tomorrow with our realtor, but is there anything we can do?? If it’s under contract does that mean we can’t put an offer on it? Are we out of luck now?

If it is under contract, that means that someone put in an offer and it was accepted. The person might back out, but they might back out for reasons you wouldn’t want the house anyway. I would just move on, there will be something else out there for you.

Many things could happen with their contract, not necessarily because of anything having to do with the house itself. Many home sales fall through because of financing. Keep looking, but have your realtor keep in constant contact with the listing agent to see if the offer goes all the way to closing.

Thanks for your advice ladies! My heart just dropped when I saw it was under contract. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it works out for us, and will definitely let my realtor know that we want to stay updated on it. I suppose if we don’t get it, then it wasn’t meant to be. Getting over this awesome house will be easier said than done!

@ruby26: Wow this literally just happened to us yesterday/today also!!! Same house??! Wouldn’t that be hilarious! I’m jk though – we’re from San Francisco.

I am so bummed! FI is out of town and I told him all about it and he was looking forward to seeing the house and then *BAM!* after 250+ days of being on the market without any offers, it is now under contract. The realtor did mention that the current homeowner’s second mortgage lender was very difficult about some of the terms (the house was listed as a short sale) and he wasn’t sure if the terms could actually be met in the current contract, so I guess we shall see. I know it sounds mean, but I’m almost hoping that the current contract falls through so that we can put an offer in…. I know, harsh, but thats just how I feel right now!

Its mostly disappointing because there aren’t many “nice” options in our price range, so this was a really exciting prospect…. we just happened to start looking a little too late.

there is always the (slim) chance the buyer will back out. what i recommend is call the realoter listing the house before you physically go look at a house and they can tell you if its under contract. i lost the chance at several awesome houses from waiting a day to call and find out. i recommend finding a realtor who answers their cell phone at 10 at night lol. thats how we found the house we are waiting for. we found it and i emailed her saiyng i have to see this tomorrow and we met 8am, got the paperwork by noon, she had it back all signed by 8 that night and the next morning the seller signed it…now if only it wasnt a short sale we’d be in it already! we’ve been waiting 56 days to hear back from the bank if they approve our offer. its been the longest 56 days in my ENTIRE LIFE lol good luck 🙂

Under contract means the seller accepted an offer and both parties signed a contract of sale. You can’t make an offer right now that would be considered, because the seller would be violating the terms of the contract. I would keep your eye on it, however, because if the house is being financed (which it most likely is) anything can go wrong with the mortgage, also after an inspection the buyer might find something wrong with the house and both of those situations might mean it’s no longer under contract. Keep looking, but check back in on that house from time to time. Usually the bank takes about 2 months to issue a nonconditional letter which is required for closing.

Hmmm…did your realtor tell you that the house was already contract before you stepped inside? It seems a little weird to me that the owners of the house are continuing to show the house even though it is already under contract. I thought upon acceptance of a contract the owners had to stop showing the house and accepting any new offers?

@coffeegal85: I don’t know if it is different for a short sale or what, but the realtor showed us the house and suggested submitting a “back up” offer incase the current contract fell through…… kinda weird, not sure how all of that works though?

@coffeegal85: Apparently our realtor pulled the paperwork and made the appointment on Friday night, the owners accepted an offer Saturday morning, and we looked at it Saturday early afternoon. So it was just a matter of hours really.

We’ve decided to stop thinking about it. I know we’ll find something else that works for us, and I’m encouraged by all the houses that come on the market everyday! Maybe something better is coming!

@ruby26: Something similar happened to us when we were house shopping… well, I mean, this sort of thing happens a lot but in our situation, we put in an offer via fax, the seller agent called back within 5 minutes and VERBALLY our offer was accepted. We are sooo freakin’ happy, then before anything was actually signed, someone put in a higher offer and they got the house. It was within hours also. I was super pissed but our agent kept telling us something better would come along. I didn’t want to believe it though, I was in tears, and the worst part was that this house was literally right down the street from the place we were renting so I had to see “our” house that someone “stole” every time we went anywhere!

But in the end, we ended up with something we liked a LOT better. Even though I didn’t think that would happen, it did, and we ended up with a house we adore! The other one had more space, truth be told, but this one had 10x more in terms of beauty, charm, historic original features, and a huge front porch. 🙂

Thank you ladies for your similar stories and advice! I knew I could count on you to talk me through this.

UPDATE: Our agent just called and said the buyer’s financing fell through, so the house is going back on the market tomorrow morning! I’m going to meet with her early in the morning to sign an offer and submit it! I never would have believed this could happen… Now I’m keeping my fingers crossed!